Eight detained during clashes with police in Namakhvani HPP protests released
All of the eight individuals were released after the district court in the western Georgian town of Kutaisi postponed the hearing to June 4. Photo: 1TV.ge
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Eight individuals have been released following their detention during clashes with police over the construction of the Namakhvani HPP in western Georgia.
Namakhvani HPP protesters, who returned from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to Rioni gorge on May 26, were holding a demonstration at the iron wall in Gumati village since then.
Pounding the wall with their hands for several hours to make noise the protesters tried to cross the iron wall late on May 27 and move towards the construction site, but police prevented them from doing so.
Police erected an iron wall in the village of Gumati on April 14 to prevent the demonstrators from moving to the Namakhvani village where they have been protesting the construction of HPP for over 200 days now. Photo: Tata Kachkachishvili/RFERL
Activists and locals of Rioni gorge are protesting the construction of the HPP claiming that the project was launched without sufficient research and a thorough consideration of risks, including immediate security risks due to active seismic activity.
The protesters say that in addition to the environmental threat, the government has 'relinquished state interests' in the contract with Enka Renewables, the company responsible for the Namakhvani HPP construction.
Eight individuals protesting against the construction of the Namakhvani hydro power plant (HPP) in western Georgia have been detained after a clash between protesters and police in the village of Gumati last night, announces the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.
Two individuals have allegedly been detained as police and protesters of Namakhvani hydro power plant construction clashed in Rioni Gorge, Varlam Goletiani, the leader of Rioni Gorge Defenders’ civic movement said.
Protesters against the construction of the Namakhvani hydro power plant (HPP) in western Georgia have stopped their protest rally in the capital city of Tbilisi and say that they will continue the fight directly at the construction site of Namakhvani HPP.
Protesters against the construction of the Namakhvani Hydro Power Plant have gathered in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi today and call on the government of Georgia to fulfil their demands by 12 p.m. tomorrow, May 24.
Police detained Irakli Mukbaniani, a protester against the construction of the Namakhvani hydro power plant (HPP) using disproportionate force, witnesses say. Mukbaniani was detained in the village of Sakulia in western Georgian region of Imereti for assaulting a police officer during a demonstration in Gumati village a couple of days ago.